The game is currently undergoing design. I have had no issues with commands, save one, thus far. As of right now, the program successfully checks for its appvar, and if not present, allows you to create a ship. You can choose between 3 different types of ships, one with higher weapon power but weaker shields and slow repair, a second with weaker weapons, but higher shields and slow repair, and another with very strong shields and quick repair. Currently working on assigning all systems a position in the ship (aka: front, back, top, bottom). Also working on a points system. You earn points for defeating opponents, which can be used to upgrade the ship, purchase more weapons, or even to attain the Romulan torpedo from the 2009 movie (deals 40-60 dmg to shields, or if shields are down deals 20-50 dmg to all systems in the area hit). It will be very expensive, though.

I need some advise on a shield defense system, though. What would you think is better:

1. Standard: Shields, while active, always take 100% of the damage.

2. Complex: this is how it works

once the ship is hit, the Z value is set to 1. Every time the program loops, the Z value goes up one, until it hits 4. If your ship is hit while Z=1, the ship takes 75% of the damage, shields are affected normally. If Z=2, ship takes 50%, and if Z=3, ship takes 25%. Once Z=4, shields defend completely. The idea behind this is that once shields are hit, they become strained and unstable. Thus another attack hitting within quick succession would penetrate to some degree.

Let me know which is preferred.

I think that the complex shield system sounds like it would make gameplay a bit more fun and challenging, personally. This sounds like a fun project, and I look forward to seeing screenshots and progress. How much planning do you have left before coding begins?

After a few technical setbacks and familiarization with the drawing routines, coding has now accelerated to warp speed.

Here's what's done:

-The position of your ship and your enemy updates once for every time around the main loop.

-You may now attack your enemy with phasers, photon torps, and the Romulan torpedo, so long as you have torps and Romulan torps (phasers are infinite) to fire, and your weapons and generator are on-line. If you have none, an error flashes briefly.

-You may lock onto your opponent. This lock lasts for 10 loops. Any firing done in this time hits your enemy. If you fire while not locked, you only fire forward.

Here's what's coming:

-Attacking your enemy.

-Lines on screen for warp speed (failed at this once already).

-Target planet positions.


Once you battle the enemy ship, you will have a mission to complete on the surface. you will need to beam down. the game then becomes an ARPG on the surface, where you must fight ground enemies to complete the mission. Then, you must beam back up and the victory cut is given and the game ends.

Once you beam down, that becomes a checkpoint. You no longer need worry about space once you are on the surface.

So why not just warp in, quickly move into position, and beam down. In my game that will require much skill. As you may know, shields must be lowered before you may beam anywhere. The enemy ship is set to first target your transporter and knock it out. Then it wipes the generator. Without the generator, your ship loses power and everything stops working.

*facepalm*

Sounds like a solid set of progress thus far.

A space shooter and an ARPG all in one? That's awesome! That's a nice combination.

Ah, now let me get something straight, one "play" through the game is one space section and one ground section? You have no plans to make longer missions where you need to complete sequences thereof?

Progress at a standstill. I got frustrated with my inability to get some features, like warp speed, working properly.

Will make another attempt to bypass these errors.

I have the destination set and target planet set. Enemy attacks not functional. Some ship features buggy. Beam-down functional. Have not even started surface-ARPG.

In this version, the program itself contains the level data, thus playing a new level requires a new copy of the program. In a future release, plan on having level data in an appvar, and even support for multiple game appvars on calc at once.

I'm sorry to hear that progress reached a standstill and that you won't be entering Omnimaga's contest. Let us (or them, I suppose) know if you need any help with theory or Axe specifics.

Well, one of my problems is this:

I am using the full 2-byte range for my x,y,and z coord. There is one full range to 1 sector for all coords.

So if you move from 0 to the top, you move down one sector. And vice versa.

But how do I test to see if the coord values have gone to the opposite end of the range.

For instance: Lets say I use A for the X coord and B for the X sector and D for the speed

If A+D<A
B-1->B
End
If A-D>A
B+1->B
End

but when I put together the x, y and z axis, it doesnt work the way it should.

Does Axe have a concept of the carry flag? If so, then that's what you'll need to use. If not, then check if B is already at the lowest (or highest) end of the range before decrementing (or incrementing) it, and only increment or decrement if not at the edges of the range?